An Alarming Hobby

Geoffrey Kittredge has his own clock-themed YouTube channel.

Eighth-grader Geoffrey Kittredge gets lots of practice at time management.

Nearly every square inch of his bedroom is covered with clocks, each with their own unique alarms, wind-up mechanisms and batteries to be replaced.

“When I was 5, I had three major interests: teapots, butterflies and clocks. So my grandpa combined them all and made me a teapot-shaped clock with butterflies on it,” the Fairgrounds Middle School student recalls. “It wasn’t until a few years later that I actually started collecting. I got some for my birthday, and then my grandparents got some from IKEA for me.”

The gem of Geoffrey’s 140-strong collection is the Seiko “Melodies in Motion” clock, which randomly switches around the numbers and plays both classical and Christmas music. There are also character-themed clocks (Superman, Star Wars), ones with visible gears, ones that project the time on the ceiling and cuckoo clocks. One even plays the “Peanuts” theme song.

Geoffrey shares new additions to his collection on his “Hurricanic Clocks” YouTube page, which at press time had more than 700 subscribers.

One of the collector’s favorite activities is to set the alarms on all his clocks a few minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve and listen to them all go off at once. Then he joins his family for the real New Year’s countdown.

On the other 364 nights of the year, Geoffrey’s clocks remain more low-key.

“All the tick-tock noises don’t keep me up at night,” he shrugs. “I usually sleep right through it.”

Note from the editor:

This profile appeared as part of a larger article in the September 2023 issue of New Hampshire Magazine highlighting some of the fascinating collectors and passionate collectors in the state.

To learn more about the other Granite State Super Collectors, click here.